“I love you.” I stand before bending down and kissing her cheek.
“I love you too.” She holds out two fortune cookies. “One for you and one for Jay. I want you to open them together tonight. Trust me, it will be fun.” I snag them from her before heading out. I’m happy we picked a place close to mine. The Chinese food is the best around here.
My heart starts to race the closer I get to my building. Before I can knock on the door to Jay’s, it flies open.
“I’m terrible at the dating thing, and it scares the crap out of me,” I blurt out. A half smile forms on his lips, making a small dimple I never noticed before appear.
“We don’t have to rush anything, Dove. We can go at your pace. We can watch movies, go to dinner, have a few drinks. Hell, we can even play UNO but I really hope you’re not a sore loser because I’m pretty kickass.”
“That all sounds wonderful, Jay.” My face starts to warm, and I make myself push on. “Right now all I really want to do is kiss you. Will you kiss me?” I barely get the words out and his mouth is on mine, making all the worries from earlier melt away.ThirteenJayI thought I’d messed up, but she was scared. That’s all. Scared animals tend to hide so no one can see their wounds because their predators will take them out. Humans aren’t much different, right? Some sense weakness and attack. How is she going to know I’m not one of the wolves? God, she’s so precious. I could eat her, but all she needs from me now is a kiss.
I draw her smaller body flush against mine and mold my lips against hers. She kisses me back, opening her mouth, snaking her tongue against mine. Her tentative, cautious flicks drive me wild. I plunge my own tongue deeper into her mouth and pull her tighter against me. My erection is thick and full. The blood is pounding in my ears in rhythm with a beat that is driving me to want to lay her down on the wood floor, peel off her panties, and spear her with my hard cock. A loud cough and a door banging shut interrupts my plans.
Dove breaks away, her breath catching in her throat, a pretty pink staining her cheeks. Over the top of her head, I spot our neighbors glaring at us.
“Apartments have doors for a reason. You don’t need to put on a show. There are kids that live here.”
My eyes dip downward to see a young boy with his eyes covered by his mother’s hands.
“Sorry.” I nod my head and pull Dove inside my apartment, closing the door behind us.
A wry smile tips the corners of her lips up. “Maybe I should’ve been more specific.”
“Like where you wanted me to kiss you?” I arch my eyebrow.
She blushes and turns to cough into her hand. Clearing her throat, she says, “I meant I should have said take me inside and kiss me.”
“We’re inside now.” I glance around the apartment. It’s a small space, and while Abel’s wife did a great job of making the most of it with a sectional at one end and a nice flat screen that I have yet to turn on, the only thing I can focus on is the bedroom that is only a few steps away. If we stay here, I’m going to have a hard time keeping my hands to myself.
“Should we go somewhere?” I propose.
Her head comes up. “Sure. Where?”
“I have an idea.” I grab my keys and then her hand, pulling her out the door. Our neighbor has since disappeared inside her own place, leaving the coast clear.
“How long have you lived here?” I ask.
“All of my life. How about you?”
I realize we haven’t shared much information with each other. “I just got back to the States. After I finished photographing wolves in Russia, I went south of the equator and ended up finding some lost cities.”
“Lost cities?” she asks.
I nod but wait to answer since we’ve reached the Rover. I help her in and when I’m inside and belted, I continue, “Old cities that have been abandoned and nature has sort of overtaken them.”
“Are there a lot of those?”
“More than you’d think.” I pull out of the parking lot and head west toward the county line.
“Why are they abandoned?”
“Could be for a variety of reasons, but I think it’s mostly economic. The older cities may have been abandoned because of superstition. If a number of people died because of an illness, the survivors would move on. If there were long periods of drought, people could’ve thought the land was cursed. Most of the time I think people left because the water source dried up or a trading route was opened somewhere else. Kind of like these days when small towns become ghost towns as people flock to the big city to find jobs. These lost cities are sort of snapshots of life at one time, life before the downturn or life as it is eroding.”